The reward-support framework and faculty commitment to their university

Abstract

The present study examined faculty commitment to their university across hard and soft sciences and across pure and applied fields. Within each field, faculty commitment was separately examined for each career stage and for each level of research productivity. Furthermore, this study assessed (separately for each field) the relative powers of rewards and support variables, derived from the exchange framework, in explaining faculty commitment. A stratified random sample of 40 U.S. research university departments, 10 each in physics, sociology, electrical engineering, and education, was surveyed by means of a questionnaire. The major findings of the study suggest that the reward-support framework plays a meaningful role, although distinctly different for hard and soft sciences, in determining faculty commitment to their university in each of the four fields. The relative power of rewards in explaining faculty commitment is stronger in hard sciences and weaker in soft sciences whereas a reversed pattern is found for support indicators. In addition, faculty commitment to their university varies across fields, career stages, and levels of research productivity (only for hard sciences).